Christmas Eve Celebration

On 24th Dec 2012 our Church FBC celebrated the first Christmas at our new building.  Of the many Christmas celebrations, this was the grandest of them all.  Our Iban congregation has been reaching out to the Ibans in Sebuyau and about 100 of these folks came all the way from Sebuyau to celebrate with us.  Including other invited guests and members there must be close to 1000 people attending the Christmas celebration.  Our Ibans folks also helped in the preparation of the foods.  There were plenty of foods on that evening, and the foods were enough for so many people.  Beside foods, the English, Mandarin and Iban congregations performed dances, and songs to entertain our guests.  One of the high light of the evening was the "uncles" of our church performing the Gangnam Style dance.  It was hugely popular and entertaining. 

Praise God for a successful event!

Christmas Eve at FBC - Online Slideshow Creator

Gangnam Style by FBC "Uncles"

Christmas is Here

Christmas is here!  The meaning of Christmas for the world is different from that of Christians.  To the world Christmas is about celebration of a year end holiday and also the exchange of gifts.  To a certain extent Christians all over the world have also been drawn into this thinking.  Celebration is not wrong by itself but as Christians we have to really think of the importance of Christmas.  It is really about worldly celebration and gifts?  When we step away and think for a while, we realized the importance and gravity of Christmas - The Birth of Jesus Christ Our Savior.  Yes, He is the Savior of this world whether you like it or not.  God's timing is perfect too.  Galatians 4:4 "When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His son".  Not early nor late, just the right time!  He demonstrated His own love for us that even though we are sinners He died for us Roman 5:8  "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  It is such a wonderful and unmerited love that God has demonstrated to His children.  We do not deserve His salvation, yet Jesus came to redeem us from our sins and gave eternal life to believers.

Let be conscious of the importance of Christmas, and not celebrate it like the world does, but celebrate with a sense of awe and love for Jesus for He first love us.

A Blessed Christmas to everyone!

Overwhelming Response Christmas Parade

 http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/12/17/sarawak/12469417&sec=sarawak

On 15th Dec 2012 multitudes of Christians in Kuching attended the annual Christmas parade organized by the Methodist church here.  The turnout was overwhelming, at least 10,000 people joined this parade!  Praise and thank God for this overwhelming response!  Christians are touched by the Holy Spirit and we all come together to show unity among ourselves.  Indeed it was heart warming to witness, Methodist, Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Baptists, and others joined together to parade and show our unity in Christ Jesus.

I was also there and from my observation the participants were about three times the numbers last year.  The locals watching this parade appeared to be more than the previous year.  We also had some foreigners witnessing the parade.  Couple Lars and Pia Nielsen from Denmark said, “We didn’t expect to see something of this magnitude during our visit to Kuching,”

Thank God for the good weather too.  There was no rain through out the parade although it is rainy season now.

Go to the above link to read more from The Star newspaper.

Christmas Parade 2012 - make slideshow

Worship Organized by KMF 12.12.12

On 12.12.12 evening KMF ( Kuching Minister Fellowship) organized a combined worship at Calvary Church Kuching.  Praise and thank God for a very worshipful evening.  The church's hall was packed and all participants had to stand as all the chairs were removed.  It was very encouraging to witness so many young people attended this worship service.  Many events had happened in our country and many Christians have been praying all over the nation.  KMF has been actively organizing prayer services over the past few years in Kuching as well as the outskirts like Lundu.  There was no planned programs for the evening and the leaders led the prayers and worship as led by the Holy Spirit.  It was a tremendous time of worship and indeed I sensed the Spirit moving among us as the participants prayed and sing worship songs.  The songs sang were in English, Mandarin and Bahasa Malaysia.  Beside praying for our nations, the lead pastors requested participants to pray for the churches in Kuching to be united in love, for forgiveness of the Chinese people many of whom are idols worshipers, and the natives of Sarawak many also worship idols.

There were three worship teams, one from Calvary, one from Blessed Church and another from First Baptist Church.

Pastors in attendance were, Pastor Matthew Ling, Pastor Darren Tan, Pastor David Ang, Pastor Rodney, Pastor Greamon, Pastor Jerry Teo, Pastor Jeff Wei, Pastor G.T Lim, and Pastor Malcolm Yong.

Praise God for a worshipful evening!  The service started around 7.40 pm and ended passed mid night!  Hallelujah!  Just did not feel the time as we engaged in praying and singing!

Praise God!  All Glory to Him!

KMF Worship at Calvary - Slideshow

Counter Productive Busyness

 
http://thegoodbookblog.com/2012/nov/08/the-confessions-of-a-formerly-busy-person/
In this modern world you may ask "who is not busy?"  Well, it seems everyone I met commented that he/she is busy with something, either it was work or some other things.  Sometimes when we get down to the bottom line we can be too busy for our own good.  Many people are suffering from depression and I believe one of the reasons is that people are so busy that they are stressed out - gone beyond their limits.  Others got too many things on their plate, thus they cannot deliver, hence the stress.

Being a Christian we have to be careful not to make busyness as our idol.  For example if work is keeping us from relating to God, you know you have an idol in your work.  A friend shared with me recently, she said "Do you really know the meaning of being "BUSY?"  She advised, "BUSY" means:

B - bury
U - under
S - Satan's
Y - York

If we examine our Christian life, this can happen if we are not careful.  Instead of staying focus on Jesus we got carried away by our idols.

Romans 8:6 said "to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."

"Jesus is all the world to me, 
My life, my joy, my all,
He is my strength from day to day,
Without Him I would fall".

                              Thompson

Professor Ben Shin of Biola University shared how he was under the "york" and after he realized the extend of the problem he was facing, he made adjustments and now he can say he is a "formerly busy person."  You can read his full account at the link above.

Bethseda Mission Hospital

 http://serukam.blogspot.com/

https://plus.google.com/photos/100719317954706668993/albums/5175679741940775809/5177042449164450834?banner=pwa

Bethseda Mission Hospital (BMH) is located in Serukam, West Kalimantan, Indonesia.  It is about 200 KM drive from Kuching (Borneo, Malaysia) across the border to Kalimantan, Indonesia.  This mission hospital was founded by Dr.Wendell Geary and his wife Marjorie Geary from Minnesota, USA some 56 years ago.  They felt called by the Lord then to reach out to serve the people of Indonesia, Borneo.  They had no idea where this place was, but they followed the call of our Lord to serve in Serukam, Indonesia.

When they arrived at Serukam some 56 years ago what they had were some village buildings left behind by Dutch missionaries.  From there through very trying circumstances, Dr.W Geary and his wife started a mission hospital to serve the people of Serukam and the surroundings.  Since then by God's grace tremendous progress have been made at the hospital.  Now there is a proper hospital set up as well as training centre for doctors and nurses.  Now Dr.Geary's son Dr.Paul Geary is continuing the work of his father and now serving as a doctor at the hospital.

Beside providing health care to the communities in Serukam, Dr. W Geary and Mrs. Marjorie Geary are missionaries imparting the Gospel to the communities.  There is also a Church at the hospital.  Dr. Geary shared that beside the imparting of the Words, they are sharing Christ in their work as health care providers.

The life and work of the Geary are really inspirational.  They serve their communities unselfishly just like what Jesus did more than 2000 years ago.  They abandoned comfortable living in the US to a forsaken place like Serukam because God called them to this place which was unknown to them.  From the very beginning they walked closely with Jesus and heeded His command to love your neighbors.  They never looked back.  Their work is on going, now his son Dr. Paul Geary is carrying on their work and serving full time at Serukam.

Dr. W Geary and Mrs. Marjorie Geary are no strangers to our Church.  They have been associated with our Church for many years already.  They are usually hosted by our members, Dr. H.T Wong and his wife Chuei Lian when they visit Kuching.  Last Sunday Dr. W Geary and Mrs.Marjorie Geary were at our Church to share with our congregation of their work in Serukam.  An appeal for a donation to BMH was made in church.  Praise and thank to God that the total collection raise for the hospital on Sunday was about RM6,400.  As a Church we are most honored to be able to contribute a little to this meaningful work in Serukam.

We pray for the Gearys for God's love and provisions to be with them and that many will be touched to turn to our Lord Jesus.  May God's grace be upon the people of Indonesia, our neighbor.

Note: Go to the above links of a blog by Dr.Tang Sie Hing of his mission to BMH in 2009.  More pictures of BMH in the second link.

Above is a picture of our Chairman Bro. Nee Wen handling over the donations to the Gearys.

NYPD Officer's Love for Homeless Man

 http://www.ksby.com/news/nypd-officer-gives-boots-to-homeless-man/#!prettyPhoto/0/

It is indeed touching to read about how a fellow human who love another enough to buy him a pair of waterproof boots even though he did not know the homeless man.  In this material world, people do not normally do such a thing, each for his/her own.  Thank God that there are still such people in this world who would sacrifice a little to make others comfortable.  I do not know whether this NYPD Officer, Larry Deprimo is a Christian, but he is an example of a disciple that Jesus would be proud of.  Jesus commanded us to love one another as He has loved us.

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

 When we love love one another like He did than people know that we are His disciples.

John 13:35 "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

NYPD Officer showed his love for his neighbor by buying a waterproof boots for a homeless man although this was not required of him.  Him later told the media that he just did what he did without much thought.  He just did it because he has compassion for the homeless man.  Thank God for him.  If he is not a Christian yet, I pray he will come to know our Lord in due time. If he is already a believer may his love for others be strengthened and may God use him mightily.

  Read further and watch a video at the link above.